The College of the Humanities and Sciences, Harrison Middleton University is dedicated to the memory of Willis Speight Harrison, and Arthur Middleton.

Willis Speight Harrison was a 1938 graduate of the School of Journalism University of North Carolina. He also served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Pacific during World War II, winning  the Legion of Merit for Valor. His career in Journalism spanned over 25 years, primarily  for the Toledo Blade and the Philadelphia Bulletin where he wrote for the editorial page.  He was a  member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a life member and former president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers. Mr. Harrison was a chess and Scrabble player, an avid reader of the classics and an inspiration to many.  

Arthur Middleton was a British American planter, legislator, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the leaders in the controversies leading up to the American Revolution.

Harrison Middleton University's Doctor of Arts degree program was approved by the accrediting commission of the Distance Education and Training Council in January, 2008.

Harrison Middleton University's Doctor of Education degree program was approved by the accrediting commission of the Distance Education and Training Council in June, 2006. In April 2007, the Secretary of Education approved the Department of Education’s recommendation and has granted an expansion of the Distance Education and Training Council’s (DETC) scope to include the accreditation of institutions offering a professional doctoral degree.

In April of 2008, Chad Redwing will be presenting a paper on “The Great American Misfit” at the Association for Core Texts and Courses annual conference in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts.  The paper will explore, via an exploration of Mark Twain’s  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the conception of the outsider as a fundamental component of “who we are” as Americans.  After briefly exploring how the misfit plays a fundamental role in our perceptions of ourselves politically, historically and culturally, the presentation expands on this notion of the subversive character as fundamental not only to America and its literature (including works by Mark Twain, Ralph Ellison, Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville) but as an important part of the Western literary tradition from the time of the very first novel, Cervantes’ Don Quixote.  

Faculty member, Chad Redwing, presented a paper entitled “The Tortuous Happy Ending in Post-Authoritarian Chilean Cinema” at the 2008 Southwest Texas/ Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference in February.  The paper provided a historical contextualization of the political upheavals in Chile from 1970 to present, including a brief review of national cinematic production during the Allende years and the apagón cultural (the cultural blackout) ushered in by the Pinochet dictatorship and his Consejo de Calificación Cinematográfica.  His presentation also analyzed the historical and cultural significance of the Chilean film B-Happy (2003), directed by Gonzalo Justiniano.

Faculty member, Ana Kennedy, attended the University of Arizona, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree and Masters of Science degree in Agricultural and Resource Economics. Her master’s thesis addressed the adoption of reduced tillage equipment and its impact on dust remediation in urban areas.  During her master’s program, Ana interned with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service in Washington, D.C.  Ana is an active member of the Farm Bureau.  She currently serves on the American Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee, and most recently served a two-year term as chairman of the Arizona Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee.  Ana is also a member of the Arizona Governor’s Women in Agriculture Committee.  

Faculty member, Mary Bryan Curd, was awarded the Herberger College of the Arts 2007 Outstanding Graduate Award. Bryan earned a Ph.D. in Art History from Arizona State University. She has received major grants, is published in her field, is an accomplished and experienced teacher, has participated significantly to community outreach and engagement, and has written a dissertation topic of extraordinary importance and originality. Bryan received two dissertation research grants, a Fulbright Fellowship to the Netherlands and a Kress Fellowship. These are both highly competitive grants, awarded to only the very best applicants in the field. Bryan’s dissertation, Netherlandish Artists Working in England, 1480-1690: Multicultural Collaboration and Competition was the first to examine how Dutch artists who were active in England either collaborated with their English counterparts or competed with them. By examining technological inventions, the rise of capitalism and the intersection of these issues with the history of art, Bryan was able to break new ground in her field. Bryan is also a devoted teacher and students respond to her intelligence, kindness, and diligence. Combining research, into contemporary curatorial and educational issues with community input drawn from focus groups and visitor surveys, Bryan led the change from a traditional historic American art gallery to a dynamic, transdisciplinary installation of Art of the Americas at the Arizona State University Art Museum. Bryan earned her Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Colby College and earned her Master of Arts in English from Arizona State University.

Faculty member, Chad Redwing, earned his doctoral degree in History of Culture from the University of Chicago; his focus was the consequences of dictatorship on Chilean culture, especially literature and cinema. During 2003-2004, Chad received a Fulbright-Hays doctoral dissertation research abroad fellowship, allowing him to investigate the implications of the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship to Chilean cultural production and to explore how public spaces in Chile have been affected by authoritarian politics. Chad traveled the length of Chile, interviewing victims of political violence and documenting and cataloging how over 400 torture and detention centers used during the dictatorship have been altered, razed or even returned to use in post-dictatorial Chile as schools, churches, hotels, restaurants and government buildings. The results of his research will appear in his doctoral dissertation entitled Dictatorial Violence, the Body Politic and the Politics of the Body: Dismembering and Remembering in Chilean Literature, Cinema and Public Spaces. Chad earned his bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities--with a focus in literature and intellectual history--from Arizona State University. After graduation Chad joined the Peace Corps and he served in community development in rural, Chilean communities for two years. Upon returning to the United States, Chad began his studies at the University of Chicago, where he earned his master's degree in History of Culture in 2000.

Faculty member, Michael Curd, serves as Secretary of Tempe Sister Cities, Secretary of the Arizona Sister Cities Corporation, and was elected to a three year term to the national board of directors for Sister Cities International. Michael Curd earned his bachelor degree in Geography and Regional Development from the University of Arizona and earned a Master of Education in Adult and Higher Education from Arizona State University. Michael served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia as a Water and Sanitation Health Education volunteer. Michael is currently a candidate for the Executive Juris Doctor at Concord Law School

The College of the Humanities and Sciences, Harrison Middleton University's President, David Curd, was appointed Commissioner of the Arizona Commission on Postsecondary Education in April 2005. learn more »

In August of 2005, David Curd was appointed as a member of the Governor's P-20 Council of Arizona. Governor Janet Napolitano created the new council to improve education in Arizona to ensure more students graduate from high school, succeed in college, and are ready for the modern workforce.

David Curd was elected as a board member of the Great Books Foundation in 2005. The Great Books Foundation is an independent, nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to provide people of all ages with the opportunity to read, discuss, and learn from outstanding works of literature. Learn more at www.greatbooks.com.